Oil Production in Saudi Arabia

Saleh Alamer, Saudi Students House of Pittsburgh

Introduction to Petrol Searching for Petrol
The main character all oil explorationists have is reading the clues.
The natural process of oil formation began million of years ago. Movements
of giant plates in the Earth’s crust created natural traps that kept the oil in The Earth’s plates have moved a lot in the past 7 million years
place. Now we use advanced technology to locate these oil deposits and bring causing the Earth’s crust to buckle and crack, creating traps. The
them to surface. decaying organic matter forming oil is caught in these traps.
One clue is the fossil of plants and animals. These plants and animals
Origins of Petrol are the origin of petrol.
The world’s oceans and lakes were full of fish and other forms of marine life, Another way of searching for oil is to use sound waves to give us a
including billions and billions of single-celled organisms. As all of this marine good picture of the under ground structure. Oil Tanker
life died, it fell to the ocean floor. Over millions of years the decaying organic The next step is to make a drill test to gather core samples of
matter at the bottom of oceans and lakes accumulated in layers up to one
mile thick. material from deep underground.
Landslides and earthquakes deposited layers of clay over the decaying micro-
organisms, creating a type of seal. These layers subject the decaying micro-
Crude Oil Unit The core samples are then sent to geology labs for analysis. Saudi Oil History
1933
organisms to tremendous pressure. Saudi Arabia grants oil concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), affiliate of Standard Oil of California (Socal, today's Chevron).
These micro-organisms have transformed by heat, pressure, and bacteria into
the hydrocarbons we seek today. Drilling and Production Oil prospecting begins on Kingdom's east coast.
1936
Texas Company (known as Texaco, now part of Chevron) acquires 50 percent interest in Socal's concession.
1938
Kingdom's first commercial oil field discovered at Dhahran. Crude is exported by barge to Bahrain.
The challenges of getting oil from the ground include drilling 1939
down the oil, lifting it to the surface, and moving it to the First tanker load of petroleum is exported.
1944
refinery for processing into valuable products. Casoc changes its name to Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
1948
In addition to drilling on land, it’s common to use over-water Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil (both now Exxon Mobil) join Socal and Texaco as owners of Aramco.
drilling rigs to search for oil under the sea floor. 1950
1,700km Trans-Arabian Pipe Line (Tapline) is completed, linking Eastern Province oil fields to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.
The process starts by making a deep vertical hole into the earth, 1973
Saudi Arabia's Government acquires a 25 percent participation interest in Aramco.
then turning horizontal for the final penetration into the oil- 1975
zone. Master Gas System project is launched.
1980
Once the oil is pumped to the surface, it goes to a gas-oil Saudi Government acquires 100 percent participation interest in Aramco, purchasing almost all of the company's assets.
1981
separator plant. There, the gas is taken out of the oil stream. East-West Pipelines, built for Aramco's natural gas liquids (NGL)and crude oil, link the Eastern Province with Yanbu' on Red Sea.
The oil goes to be stabilized and stored in tanks. 1982
Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center (EXPEC) opens in Dhahran.
Next, it is loaded into supertankers that carry it to consumers all 1984
Company acquires its first four supertankers.
over the world. 1987
East-West Crude Oil Pipeline expansion is completed, boosting capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd).
Drilling Unit Off shore oil field 1988
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Saudi Aramco, is established.

Transportation Network 1992

East-West Crude Oil Pipeline capacity boosted to 5 million bpd. Saudi Aramco affiliate purchases 35 percent interest in SsangYong Oil Refining

Distillation & Fractionation Company (now S-Oil Corporation) of the Republic of Korea.
1993
Saudi Aramco takes charge of Kingdom's domestic refining, marketing, distribution and joint-venture refining interests.
1996

One of oil’s greatest advantages is its Saudi Aramco acquires 50 percent of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries and Avinoil. Company also assumes controlling interest in two Jiddah-based
lubricants companies, now known as Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) and Saudi Arabian Lubricating Oil Company
Oil and the petroleum gasses produced along with it contain many valuable
chemicals. The process of un-mixing and extracting each of these chemicals is
transportability (its ability to travel). (Petrolube).
1998
Saudi Aramco, Texaco and Shell establish Motiva Enterprises LLC, a major refining and marketing joint venture in the southern and eastern United States.
called distillation and fractionation. Pipelines are the most efficient means of 2000
The process is based on the scientific fact that any pure substance has a Petroleum Intelligence Weekly ranks the company No.1 in the world for the 11th straight year, based on the Kingdom's crude oil reserves and production.
specific boiling pint or a temperature at which it vaporizes to gas form. transporting oil. They must be designed to Aramco Gulf Operations Limited is established to assume management of the government's petroleum interest in the Offshore Neutral Zone between
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The Process: overcome gravity, friction, expansion and New facilities are under construction in the Haradh and Hawiyah gas plant projects to process gas for delivery to the Master Gas System and on to
domestic markets.
•First the oil is heated until it vaporizes.
•These vapors are trapped in a vessel that separate them as they contraction. Series of pumps push oil through 2001
Hawiyah Gas Plant, capable of processing up to 1.6 billion standard cubic feet per day of non-associated gas, comes on stream.
cool. these pipelines. 2003
•The separated vapors condense into liquids. Haradh Gas Plant completed two and a half months ahead of schedule.
•The process is then repeated to extract more liquids and The other mean is oil tanker ships. The largest oil 2005
Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. sign a joint venture agreement for the development of a large, integrated refining and petrochemical
products.
tanker can carry about 3 million barrels of oil. It complex in the Red Sea town of Rabigh, on Saudi Arabia's west coast.

only requires a crew of 30 people! 2006

Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical broke ground on PETRORabigh, an integrated refining/petrochemical project. Haradh III was completed, yielding
300,000 bpd of oil. Accords were signed for two export refineries -- Jubail (with Total) and in Yanbu' (with Conoco-Phillips).
2007
Saudi Aramco begins a program to build a $10 billion world-class graduate research university, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST).